Hello everyone! Welcome back to the Barnyard Broadcast! Today's episode focuses on parasites, which can be a large problem within our small ruminant herds. I am excited to have in this episode three professionals who have years of experience in parasitology! We are delighted to have on the podcast Melanie Barkley, Dr. Scott Bowdrige, and Dr. Robert Van Saun! Please check out their bios below! As always, if you have any questions about parasites or any other livestock topic, please reach out to your local livestock educator or visit extension.psu.edu.

For more parasite-specific information, please visit wormx.info

Please keep an eye out for our next episode, which airs June 4th!

Guest Bios

Melanie Barkley- Melanie Barkley is an educator for Penn State Extension, based in Bedford County. She began her career in Extension as a youth educator and has covered many program areas in agriculture over a 34-year career. Her current position focuses on livestock production, which includes serving as chair of the state Livestock Team. She mostly works with sheep and meat goat producers to help them analyze their operations to improve sustainability. She also works with small ruminant producers to manage internal parasites within their flocks or herds and trains producers to use FAMACHA. She received her B.S. from Penn State in Animal Production in 1986 and M.Ed. in Extension Education from Penn State in 1992. Melanie has a lifetime of experience raising sheep and beef cattle, including 30 years raising Dorset, Tunis, and Border Leicester sheep. Her interests focus on livestock performance and managing livestock on pasture.

Dr. Robert Van Saun- Dr. Robert Van Saun is a Professor of Veterinary Science and Extension Veterinarian with the Department of Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences at Penn State University. He has been on faculty since 2000 and has taught a parasitology class for undergraduate students. He has clinical practice experience and is interested in the role of nutrition and disease.

Dr. Scott Bowdridge- Dr. Bowdridge’s research interests are centered around improving small ruminant production. His basic research program is focused on identifying immune mechanisms necessary to clear helminth parasite infection using parasite-resistant St. Croix sheep as a model. Additionally, Dr. Bowdridge works with a team of faculty across the School of Food and Agriculture to evaluate grazing practices that will reduce the impact of gastrointestinal parasitism of grazing livestock.